Introduction

I’ve always had a passion for tinkering with things, especially when tools and cars were involved. My dad was a gear head and would always tell me stories of handing me a hammer, some nails, and a piece of wood to keep me entertained while he worked on the cars in his garage.

Eventually, he started bringing me in to the projects, teaching me everything he knows along the way. Fixing the leaf blower? Check. Working on the Jeep Wrangler? Done. Outfitting the Porsche for track days? Absolutely. Restoring a ‘70 Mustang Fastback? Not quite, but at least we tried our best.

As I grew up tinkering with things, I decided to put some work in to my own car, a 2003 Toyota 4Runner. I had a new-found passion for the outdoors; camping, climbing, off-roading, exploring. I couldn’t get enough of it. So I got to work. I began outfitting this 4Runner with the things I would need to crawl over some big rocks or survive thousands of miles of harsh dirt road. The tired suspension needed an overhaul, some bigger tires were in order, and a few extra lights were needed to lead the way.

This 4Runner, Sirius Black (Harry Potter was still cool then, okay?), would bring me on some amazing adventures. From rock-crawling the trails of Rausch Creek in Pennsylvania to surviving the rutted dirt roads of the Trans-Labrador Highway, Sirius Black handled it all. Unbeknownst to me however, a silent killer was at work.

The Northeast of the United States is not a great place for a vehicle to live. Roads frequently get salted during the winter and that salt corrodes and eats away at the frame of any and every vehicle. Sirius Black fell victim to a deadly disease known as rust. After a sixteen year life and 140,000 miles, it was time to retire Sirius and begin a new project; one that would take me on just as many adventures and be a platform for some exciting tinkering and modifications. This blog is going to a record of that. From vehicle modifications to trip reports and more, I am going to be cataloging my adventures, successes, and failures in this new chapter.